The President Doesn't Get to Dictate How We Express Ourselves

The late justice was referring to the majority opinion in Texas v. Johnson, the 1989 decision he joined that found flag desecration was constitutionally protected speech. The case revolved around a lifelong commie weirdo named Gregory Lee Johnson, who was convicted of desecrating an American flag during an anti-Ronald Reagan protest outside the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas. Johnson was sentenced to one year in jail under Texas law.

The state argued that it had a compelling interest in preserving revered national symbols. In his dissent, Chief Justice William Rehnquist argued that the flag was not merely an "'idea' or 'point of view' competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas" but a symbol that binds a nation's people.

The majority, however, reasoned, in my humble view correctly, that the "bedrock principle" underlying the First Amendment is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds it "offensive or disagreeable." The Supreme Court has long held that First Amendment protections extend to symbolic acts.

Which brings us to President Donald Trump's signing this week of an executive order directing the Justice Department to pursue criminal penalties against those who desecrate an American flag.

"All over the world they burn the American flag," Trump said. "The people in this country don't want to see our American flag burned and spit on, and by people that are, in many cases, paid agitators."

Sorry, your free expression rights do not hinge on whether you are paid or whether you protest gratis. And the president has no say in how we express ourselves. All over the world, including in most European nations, the burning of flags is illegal because the law places the reverence of the state above the rights of the individual. Not here.

In truth, Trump's executive order only asks Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute those who burn or desecrate the American flag in ways that cause "harm unrelated to expression, consistent with the First Amendment." Which is to say, Trump only wants people to believe he's ignoring the Supreme Court. Or perhaps he wants to relitigate the issue despite long-standing precedent.

Then again, I'm relatively certain the most vital purpose of the executive order is to goad Democrats into self-defeating reactions as the midterm elections approach.

On that front, Trump has a decent chance of success. A few weeks ago, the president dispatched the National Guard to Washington, D.C., persuading half the Democratic Party to go on television and argue that crime rates weren't really a problem for average Americans. No doubt, the president hopes the new executive order will provoke progressive Democrats to champion the finer points of burning Old Glory.

It would not be surprising if Black Lives Matter, antifa and pro-Hamas types take the bait. One yahoo desecrating a flag was already arrested in front of the White House on Monday.

Defending the ungrateful scum that burns flags is a daunting political position even on earnest principled grounds. As the executive order points out, it is "uniquely offensive and provocative." And Democrats, who've spent years trying to ban and curb "misinformation" and "disinformation," including creating an aborted Ministry of Truth, possess zero credibility as ethical defenders of free expression.

In turn, many on the Right who have spent years rightfully angered by the Biden administration's administrative and bureaucratic censorship will cheer on the president's edict.

These days, increasing numbers of people are under the impression that how you get what you desire doesn't really matter. Neutral principles be damned.

It's something of a trope (and I have probably used it in the past as well) that popular speech doesn't really need protection. That's not exactly true. As we saw during COVID-19, relatively popular ideas are also under fire. If it weren't popular, it wouldn't matter as much to those in power. Yet, it is also certainly true that the most unpopular speech deserves the same protections.

So yes, to some extent, Trump's edict is a distraction. But many people seem to believe presidents can unilaterally accomplish things they aren't empowered to do. Like, for instance, banning protected speech.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• 08/22/25: Is Socialism as Popular as the Media Think?
• 08/15/25: Save the Little Sisters of the Poor!
• 08/08/25: RFK Jr.'s War on Vaccines and Public Health Continues
• 08/01/25: Europe's Recognition of 'Palestine' Is a Cynical Joke
• 07/18/25: Legacy Media Still Covering for Biden
• 06/27/25: Trump Learned the Lessons of Iraq
• 05/30/25: We Have No Constitutional or Moral Duty to Subsidize Harvard
• 05/30/25: Welcome to the Intifada, America
• 05/16/25: Scapegoating Biden Isn't Going to Solve the Dems' Problems
• 05/09/25: The Pulitzer Prizes Have Become a Sad Joke
• 05/05/25: How Do You Do, Fellow White People? Tim Walz Says Hello!
• 04/25/25: Ketanji Brown Jackson Makes a Powerful Argument for School Choice
• 04/18/25: If Everyone Is an Expert, No One Is
• 03/31/25: The Left's Imaginary COVID 'Reckoning'
• 03/21/25: Sorry, Conspiracy Theorists -- Lee Harvey Oswald Acted Alone
• 03/03/25: Mitch McConnell: A GOP Hall of Famer?
• 02/21/25: RFK's Dangerous Autism Lie
• 02/14/25: It's Time to End the EV Racket
• 02/07/25: If You Really Support Immigration, Stop Excusing Chaos
• 02/03/25: Trump's Gaza Proposal Makes Complete Sense
• 01/24/25: How Biden's Pardons Normalize Abuse of Power
• 01/17/25: Israel Makes a Deal With the Actual Devil
• 01/13/25: Why Javier Milei Matters
• 12/20/24: The Obama Doctrine Is Dead
• 12/13/24: It's time for a national conversation about left-wing violence
• 12/09/24: It's time for a national conversation about left-wing violence
• 11/08/24: Don't Trash the Constitution to Dunk on the Libs
• 11/08/24: This 'liberation' will NOT be reported
• 11/01/24: HARRIS Is the Bigger Threat to the Constitutional Order
• 09/20/24: Fact checked! Harris Is the Extremist
• 07/13/24: Explain Yourself, Kamala Harris!
• 07/05/24: How Biden's Mental Decline Went From 'Misinformation' to Fact in a Week
• 04/12/24: Biden Is Now Chasing the 'Death to America' Voter
• 03/15/24: Turns Out Biden Lied About Hur, Beau, And Why He Pilfered Classified Docs
• 02/09/24: Why Biden Is Threatening to Veto Aid to Israel
• 02/09/23: Electric Cars Are a Scam
• 06/30/23: Americans Have Never Been Less Threatened by 'Extreme Weather'
• 03/03/23: Questioning Biden's Ukraine Policy Doesn't Make You an 'Isolationist'
• 01/20/23: No ribbons? Don't hide behind religion!
• 01/13/23: On Classified Documents, Joe Biden Is Out of Excuses
• 04/29/22: Biden's Ministry of Truth
• 04/08/22: The Most Radical Abortion Law in the Nation
• 04/01/22: Recuse Yourself, Joe Biden
• 03/25/22: No, School Boards Are Not 'Banning Books'
• 03/11/22: Let Them Drive Teslas
• 01/28/22: It's Not Government's Job to 'Root Out' Misinformation
• 01/14/22: Biden's Big Elections Lie
• 01/07/22: Schumer's Ugly 'Voting Rights' Gamble
• 12/24/21:AOC's Grasp on American Governance Is a 'Farce'
• 12/17/21: Dems Pivot from Build Back Better to Useless Extremism
• 11/19/21: Reckoning' Over Steele Dossier?
• 10/15/21: The Biden White House Will Pay for Playing Inflation Games
• 09/24/21: The most demonstrable political scandal still ignored
• 09/17/21: Sorry, AOC, The Rich Already Pay Their Fair Share
• 09/02/21: Why Isn't Biden to Blame for COVID-19 Deaths?
• 08/06/21: Biden's Unprecedented Attack on the Constitution
• 07/30/21: Jan. 6 Was Deplorable. It Was NOT a Coup
• 06/21/21: The Myth of Republican Obstructionism
• 05/21/21: What Does Putin Have on Biden?
• 04/16/21: Kristen Clarke Is Unfit to Be in Government
• 03/26/21: No to DC Statehood is far from GOP being reflexive
• 03/22/21: Biden Prepares to Strip College Students of Due Process Rights The Hypocrisy of the Filibuster Busters
• 03/12/21: Biden Prepares to Strip College Students of Due Process Rights
• 03/05/21: AOC's Terrible Minimum Wage Argument
• 02/12/21: The Dem Party Is Radicalizing against the Constitution
• 02/05/21: What NOT to Do with Marjorie Taylor Greene
• 01/15/21: Free Speech Is a Value Not Just a Right
• 12/31/20: It Can't Get Any Worse Than 2020. Here's a 2021 Political Wish List
• 10/26/20: Wanted: An Honest Debate about the Death Penalty
• 10/26/20: These are the questions 'Big Guy' Biden must be forced to answer about Hunter's emails
• 09/11/20: The Dems' Dangerous Delegitimization of the Election
• 08/28/20: Biden Is Underperforming Hillary in Battleground States
• 08/14/20: Kamala Harris, Imaginary Centrist
• 07/24/20: Who you calling a fascist?
• 07/17/20: Speech Police have finally gone too far
• 07/03/20: 'But Gorsuch' Is Still Trump's Best Argument
• 06/22/20: Welcome to America's Cultural Revolution
• 06/12/20: The color of my skin is not an indictment of my morality, nor does it strip me of my agency
• 06/05/20: What this son of immigrants knows about bulding bussinesses --- and the dismay of destruction
• 05/28/20: The Folly of Twitter's Fact-Check
• 05/22/20: Dems Warning Trump Will Reject Election Results Should Look in the Mirror
• 05/15/20: Obamagate Is NOT a Conspiracy Theory
• 05/08/20: Really, Joe --- due process is the opposite of justice?